All Walks Of Life
by LadyKnightOfHollyrose
Summary: AU Kiba’s curiosity regarding the mystery girl at the park is growing, but will he ever actually pluck up the courage to actually speak to her? OneShot


_**All walks of life**_

_**Summary:**_ AU Kiba's curiosity regarding the mystery girl at the park is growing, but will he ever actually pluck up the courage to actually speak to her? OneShot

_**Disclaimer:**_ I don't own Naruto – never have, never will!

His once steady footfalls slowed to a stop. His mouth twisted slightly in consideration, his brow wrinkling a little as he thought.

His short reverie was cut short however, as fur brushed lightly against his legs. Akamaru, it seemed had doubled back to see what was causing his owner (and friend) to be held up.

Akamaru's head turned up, questioning eyes fixing on the boy. The boy sighed, crouching down to give the dog a reassuring pat – Inuzuka Kiba was fine.  
With a sceptical swish of his tail – if dogs could swish their tails sceptically – Akamaru marched forward, sparing a glance back to Kiba every so often to check on his whereabouts.

Kiba shook his head, taking up a leisurely pace as he followed behind, careful not to loiter in one spot for long enough to cause Akamaru to 'retreat and regroup' again.

He watched with amusement as Akamaru trotted over to an occupied bench, nose sniffling inquisitively at the one seated; a bored looking girl spinning a tennis racquet between her fingers. Head snapping around at breakneck speed, she regarded the dog reproachfully as her racquet became still. She didn't try to move away, but as Akamaru's nose neared her she flinched a little. Kiba allowed Akamaru a _little_ entertainment before effectively coming to the girl's rescue – speeding up slightly to catch up, he passed by the bench calling, "Come on Akamaru" before moving on. Akamaru butted the girl's knee lightly with his muzzle, turned, and then continued on his way wagging his tail with delight at the muffled squeak he had received.

They continued down the meandering path; it had become one that they travelled down frequently since last summer when their original route of just going 'around the block' had altered to going to the park. Kiba could remember how happy Akamaru had been by the change and they had been taking walks there ever since.

The alteration in direction of their evening walks was not only for Akamaru's benefit – not anymore anyway.

On that first summer evening, and most evenings that followed, he saw the one who drew him back to the park on a daily basis.  
The initial plan had been to only take Akamaru to the park every once in a while as a treat and for a change of scenery. Of course, any thoughts of his initial plan were completely forgotten when he saw her.

Always under the same tree, she sat with her back resting with her back resting against the bark, her knees up to provide support to the book that she was reading at the time.  
Her hair, like her position, was also always the same; deep purple tresses that fell past her shoulders and framed her opal-like eyes. Her delicate nose always buried in a book as her eyes flitted across the page, brows creased slightly in concentration.  
Sometimes he would catch a glimpse of her pert mouth, lips quick to smile though often being bitten in what Kiba imagined were probably tense or climatic scenes in the stories that she read. He had noticed, although most of her reading material seemed to consist of mainly novels and the odd manga thrown in, she occasionally brought along a textbook of some kind or notes to study from.

Before he knew it, his motivation to go out in the evening had less to do with Akamaru getting exercise and more to do with having the opportunity to see her. He found himself unconsciously searching for her every time he happened by the tree. And rarely was he disappointed – every day barring week ends there she'd b, under the tree with a book. When rain was light she'd choose a nearby bench to perch on, balancing an umbrella between her neck and shoulder as she glanced through a booklet. The only time that Kiba had noted her absence was when the weather was particularly awful (not that he could really blame her – the two times that he had been out to check even the energetic Akamaru had out-right refused to set foot out of the house to accompany him).

Kiba hadn't noticed the way that she seemed to creep into his thoughts as his interest concerning her grew – who was she? What was she like? Where was she from?  
He hadn't seen her in the neighbourhood (apart from at the park itself, of course) and he couldn't remember ever seeing her at his own college…

Kiba had often contemplated going over and starting a conversation with the girl, if only to satisfy his own curiosity of what her voice sounded like or what her type of personality she had… But every time the temptation to do so surfaced, he rejected the idea – what if her reason for going to the park was for the peace and quiet, the uninterrupted time to herself that she revelled in because the need to communicate with others never arose? If so, he certainly did not want to intrude, particularly if that would prevent her form continuing to come. He could be content with just observing from afar.

"Kiba!"  
Kiba was shaken from his thoughts once again, though the time the disturbance was in the form of Nara Shikamaru, a classmate of his. "Man, where were you? I had to call you three times before you even noticed me… so troublesome."  
Kiba grinned; Shikamaru found _everything_ troublesome. "What are you doing here?" he asked, bending down as Akamaru vied for his attention. Running his fingers through the thick fur he gave Akamaru a nod – the dog was allowed to continue 

further without him as long as he didn't venture too far. Licking Kiba's cheek, Akamaru bounded away, wagging his tail as he went.

Straightening, he listened to Shikamaru's response, "I _was_ cloud gazing. Until I got a call from my mother demanding that I 'make myself useful and do the shopping' while I was out. It's such a pain – today's supposed to be the clearest day this week…" He continued to grumble to himself for a few moments before returning the question.

"I was walking Akamaru…"  
A few short conversations (and an irritated call courtesy of Shikamaru's mother) later Kiba was waving Shikamaru off as he ambled in the direction that Akamaru had taken.  
Following the path around the basketball courts, the sight that greeted him all but stopped his heart.

Akamaru, apparently tired of waiting for Kiba to catch up, had taken it upon himself to investigate the one that seemed to occupy his friend's thoughts (because it was clear even to Akamaru what the cause of Kiba's outings in the frigid rain was). As Kiba stood transfixed, Akamaru conducted his own inspection of sorts, sniffling at the girl whilst circling her, his manner playful rather than menacing.  
The girl kept one eye on the dog as she leafed through her book (which looked to be a shoujo manga, Kiba noted). She didn't particularly seem to mind the company as long as she was not disturbed.

Alarm bells rang in the recesses of Kiba's mind as Akamaru pawed his nose – a sure sign of brewing mischief. He wanted to retrieve Akamaru before there was a chance for him to disturb her, but at the same time he was also curious about how she would react to whatever it was that Akamaru was planning…

Without warning, Akamaru flopped onto the girl's stomach, making her start at the sudden, unexpected contact. Kiba's eyes grew wide: what on earth was Akamaru doing?!  
Carefully reaching to her other side, the girl retrieved her bookmark and slid it into the book, careful not to disturb her charge. Setting it aside, she opted to simply observe for a moment or so, a small smile playing across her lips as Akamaru blinked up at her, head lolling to the side slightly. Ever so slowly, her fingers stretched out to gently pet his head, Akamaru gave a delighted yip, beginning to wriggle around so that he was sprawled out on his back. She giggled lightly and continued to rub his belly.

The sound of her voice, like a chime tinkling in the wind, finally urged Kiba forwards. It was odd – as he neared her the more nervous he felt, and Kiba didn't get nervous about anything. Although he had been considering speaking to her for months, now that Akamaru had practically forced him into the situation, he had no idea what to say…

"Hey," the girl seemed to tense slightly at the sound of his voice. "Akamaru, you know no matter how nice this girl is Hana will kill me if you follow her home." Akamaru yowled and turned to the side as though to ignore him. Instead the dog opted to lick the mentioned girl's hand instead.

Hearing Kiba address the dog, she seemed to relax. Her cheeks coloured to a light shade of pink as she smiled, "S-so you are this dog's - Akamaru's - owner?" Her voice was quiet, almost tentative.  
"You could say that, I guess," replied Kiba with a lopsided grin. "I prefer to think that we're friends though." He crouched down so that his eyes were level with hers. "I'm Inuzuka Kiba – nice to meet you." He held out a hand for her to shake.

She regarded him slowly with veiled interest, taking in his casual appearance and the two small triangular tattoos that adorned his cheeks. She searched his eyes for a moment, for what he could not guess, before clasping the hand lightly in her own. His larger had easily enveloped her delicate one. "Hyuuga Hinata. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The just smiled at each other for a moment.  
That is, until Akamaru decided to lick their entwined hands and bark in objection.  
Hinata's eyes lit as she laughed freely, before correcting herself, "It's a pleasure to meet you _both_."

-Hollyrose-

**_A/N:_** Well, this didn't turn out how I had planned it to. Oh well. So this is August's entry for "DateMe" (who have a profile here, and on DeviantArt - go check all the entries out!), and I'm back to my AUs again! And this is my first ever KibaHina (I'm having alot of 'first's at the moment) despite it being my favourite pairing when I first got into Naruto fanfiction.  
Oh yeah, about the part with the girl with the tennis racquet... That's effectively what happens every time I go to my park to play tennis with my friend!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this OneShot!


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